Tickets still available for Centennial Gala Dinner 02-15-09

Published 6:00 pm, Saturday, February 14, 2009

Tickets still remain for Wayland Baptist University's Centennial Gala Dinner slated for Saturday, March 21 at the Plainview Country Club Convention Center Ballroom.

Including a seated meal, live auction and entertainment by the Glenn Miller Orchestra, the event will begin at 6:30 p.m., and tickets are $100 per person. The meal will include a salad, main course of seared beef filet with a roasted red pepper demi-glaze and shrimp scampi, garlic whipped Yukon potatoes and seasonal baby vegetables and rolls, and a dessert of cappuccino cake.

Profits from the event will benefit endowed scholarship funds at Wayland, which assist students with financial need in attending the university. The event is black tie optional and will include valet parking. Seating is limited.

"We are already seeing the community excited about the gala and making plans to join us for the evening," said Hope English, chair of the centennial celebration at WBU. "We think it will be a great chance to dress up, have a fun evening with other friends of Wayland and support a great cause."

The entertainment is a highlight of the event, with the 19-member traveling band and vocalists bringing the big band sound to the celebration. Though Miller has been presumed dead for more than 60 years, his legacy lives with the orchestra. The group continues to play many of the original Miller arrangements as well as more modern selections in the big-band style.

"The 1940s, especially after the war ended, were such a celebratory time in Wayland's history since the men returned from war and enrollment boomed," English added. "The Glenn Miller Orchestra will take us back to those years and will be a great way to celebrate our century and heritage of faith and perseverance."

The present Glenn Miller Orchestra was established in 1956 by the Miller Estate, under the direction of drummer Ray McKinley, who had become the unofficial leader of the Army Air Force Band after Glenn's disappearance. The group is now led by Larry O'Brien and boasts a full repertoire of 1,700 compositions, keeping the band popular with both young and old listeners.

Another highlight of the gala will be a live auction with eight packages including jewelry, vacations, golfing, a hunting trip and an original, commissioned oil painting by Kenneth Wyatt.

The gala event is sponsored in part by Sodexo Food Service and Wayland centennial corporate sponsors: Craftsman Printers, Plainview Daily Herald and Wells Fargo Bank.

To purchase tickets to the event up through Christmas Eve, contact Teresa Young at (806) 291-3585. For more information on the event, contact Young or English at 291-3430.